In sociology, heterosociality describes social relations with persons of the opposite sex or a preference for such relations, often excluding relationships of a romantic and sexual nature.[1] The opposite of heterosociality is homosociality.

At an institutional level, the spread of heterosociality, epitomized by the entrance of women into public life/space, is closely associated with the progress of modernization.[2]

an individual who prefers to befriend or socialize with the opposite sex, as opposed to homosocial (preferring same-sex social relations) or bisocial (enjoying social relations with both sexes)

a social relationship between two people who are of different sexes, as opposed to homosocial (of the same sex).

Whether the term can be applied to groups of three or more people has been disputed. One possible argument is that such a group is homosocial if composed of people of a single sex, and bisocial if composed of people of both sexes, since in the latter case each member will be interacting with people of both sexes, on the other hand, Collins English Dictionary[3] defines heterosocial as "relating to or denoting mixed-sex social relationships", without specification of whether it applies to relationships between two people or among larger groups, suggesting that the term can describe social interactions involving people of both sexes more generally.

The pervasiveness of heterosociality in contemporary life can lead to the obscuring of its social construction as a late development in Western history. Writing of early society, Freud considered that there was "an unmistakable tendency to keep the sexes apart. Women live with women, men with men".[4]Durkheim associated sexual totemism, binding men and women into two separate totemic corporations, with such a social division of the sexes.[5] Even in the twentieth century, rules of etiquette in some traditional villages dictated that men and women do not greet each other when passing in public.[6]

Urbanization and modernization have seen a gradual erosion of the barriers to male/female socialising, not without significant culture wars along the way over each particular new arena. Thus for example part of the hostility to the Elizabethan theatre lay in the fact that men and women freely intermingled in its audience;[7] while dance halls and cabarets later offered similarly controversial new areas for heterosocial interaction,[8] as too did amusement parks.[9]

In the 21st century, the challenge presented to traditional societies by the way the discourse of modernity encourages heterosociality over an older homosociality continues to be a live issue.[10]

The 20th century opening up of the public sphere to women[11]—work, politics, culture, education—both fuelled, and was fed by, the feminist movement; but the increase in heterosociality which accompanied it was seen as double-edged by many feminists. On the one hand, it served to undercut older feminist homosocial bonds and support systems;[12] on the other, it split the new feminist movement, as calls for separatist feminism challenged heterosociality, let alone heterosexuality,[13] in ways many found unacceptable.

Acquiring heterosocial competence is a key adolescent task.[15] Other-sex friendships, even more than romances, can play a key role in this process.[16]

Different societies and different subcultures place varying restrictions upon adolescent heterosocial roles and opportunities.[17] American teen culture in particular has been seen as aggressively promoting heterosociality over homosociality.[18]

The advancement of culture was seen by Henry James as linked to heterosociality.[19] Similarly, Kenneth Clark saw the flourishing of 18th-century French culture as rooted in the heterosociality of the salon.[20]

Postfeminist criticism of Buffy Summers as powerful female role model has centred on the heterosocial nature of her particular universe of social networks.[21] Cross-sex relationships play a predominant part in the Buffy world, foreclosing more politicised readings[22] from a feminist viewpoint.

Virginia Woolf wrote an early essay on the pleasures of heterosociality—of finding "much to say to each other which neither would say to a person of the same sex".[23] The Bloomsbury group as a whole can be seen as a heterosocial construct, formed in opposition to the more segregated sexual worlds of the late nineteenth century.[24]

1.
Genetic genealogy
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Genetic genealogy is the use of DNA testing in combination with traditional genealogy and traditional genealogical and historical records to infer relationships between individuals. Genetic genealogy involves the use of genealogical DNA testing to determine the level and this application of genetics became popular with family historians in the first decade of the 21st century, as tests became affordable. The tests have been promoted by groups, such as surname study groups, or regional genealogical groups. As of 2013 hundreds of thousands of people had been tested, as this field has developed, the aims of practitioners broadened, with many seeking knowledge of their ancestry beyond the recent centuries for which traditional pedigrees can be constructed. The investigation of surnames in genetics can be said to go back to George Darwin, in 1875, George Darwin used surnames to estimate the frequency of first-cousin marriages and calculated the expected incidence of marriage between people of the same surname. He arrived at a figure between 2. 25% and 4. 5% for cousin-marriage in the population of Great Britain, higher among the upper classes and lower among the general rural population. One famous study examined the lineage of descendants of Thomas Jefferson’s paternal line and male descendants of the freed slave. Bryan Sykes, a molecular biologist at Oxford University tested the new methodology in general surname research and his study of the Sykes surname obtained results by looking at four STR markers on the male chromosome. It pointed the way to becoming a valuable assistant in the service of genealogy. The first company to provide direct-to-consumer genetic DNA testing was the now defunct GeneTree, however, it did not offer multi-generational genealogy tests. In fall 2001, GeneTree sold its assets to Salt Lake City-based Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation which originated in 1999, while in operation, SMGF provided free Y-Chromosome and mitochondrial DNA tests to thousands. Later, GeneTree returned to testing for genealogy in conjunction with the Sorenson parent company. In 2000, Family Tree DNA, founded by Bennett Greenspan and they initially offered eleven marker Y-Chromosome STR tests and HVR1 mitochondrial DNA tests. They originally tested in partnership with the University of Arizona, with the growing availability and affordability of genealogical DNA testing, genetic genealogy as a field grew rapidly. By 2003, the field of DNA testing of surnames was declared officially to have “arrived” in an article by Jobling, the number of firms offering tests, and the number of consumers ordering them, rose dramatically. The original Genographic Project was a research study launched in 2005 by the National Geographic Society and IBM, in partnership with the University of Arizona. In 2007, annual sales of genetic tests for all companies. The earliest test takers were customers most often those who started with a Y-Chromosome test to determine their fathers paternal ancestry and these men often took part in surname projects

2.
Kinship
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Anthropologist Robin Fox states that the study of kinship is the study of what man does with these basic facts of life – mating, gestation, parenthood, socialization, siblingship etc. Human society is unique, he argues, in that we are working with the raw material as exists in the animal world. These social ends include the socialization of children and the formation of economic, political. Kinship can refer both to the patterns of social relationships themselves, or it can refer to the study of the patterns of relationships in one or more human cultures. Further, even within two broad usages of the term, there are different theoretical approaches. Broadly, kinship patterns may be considered to include people related by both descent – i. e. social relations during development – and by marriage. Human kinship relations through marriage are commonly called affinity in contrast to the relationships that arise in ones group of origin, in some cultures, kinship relationships may be considered to extend out to people an individual has economic or political relationships with, or other forms of social connections. Within a culture, some descent groups may be considered to lead back to gods or animal ancestors and this may be conceived of on a more or less literal basis. Kinship can also refer to a principle by which individuals or groups of individuals are organized into groups, roles, categories. Family relations can be represented concretely or abstractly by degrees of relationship, a relationship may be relative or reflect an absolute. Degrees of relationship are not identical to heirship or legal succession, many codes of ethics consider the bond of kinship as creating obligations between the related persons stronger than those between strangers, as in Confucian filial piety. In a more general sense, kinship may refer to a similarity or affinity between entities on the basis of some or all of their characteristics that are under focus. This may be due to a shared origin, a shared historical or cultural connection. For example, a person studying the roots of human languages might ask whether there is kinship between the English word seven and the German word sieben. It can be used in a more diffuse sense as in, for example, in biology, kinship typically refers to the degree of genetic relatedness or coefficient of relationship between individual members of a species. It may also be used in this sense when applied to human relationships. Family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, in most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children. Kin terminologies can be descriptive or classificatory

3.
Family
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In the context of human society, a family is a group of people affiliated either by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence or some combination of these. Members of the family may include spouses, parents, brothers, sisters, sons. Members of the family may include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces. Sometimes these are considered members of the immediate family, depending on an individuals specific relationship with them. In most societies, the family is the institution for the socialization of children. As the basic unit for raising children, anthropologists generally classify most family organizations as matrifocal, conjugal, avuncular, sexual relations among the members are regulated by rules concerning incest such as the incest taboo. The word family can be used metaphorically to create more inclusive categories such as community, nationhood, global village, the field of genealogy aims to trace family lineages through history. Family is also an important economic unit studied in family economics, one of the primary functions of the family involves providing a framework for the production and reproduction of persons, biologically and/or socially. This can occur through the sharing of material substances, the giving and receiving of care and nurture, jural rights and obligations, thus, ones experience of ones family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a family of orientation, from the point of view of the parent, the family is a family of procreation, the goal of which is to produce and enculturate and socialize children. Christopher Harris notes that the conception of family is ambiguous. Diverse data from ethnography, history, law and social statistics, reveal the human family as a social institution, the different types of families occur in a wide variety of settings, and their specific functions and meanings depend largely on their relationship to other social institutions. Sociologists have a special interest in the function and status of family forms in stratified societies, much sociological, historical and anthropological research dedicates itself to the understanding of this variation, and of changes in the family that form over time. Levitan claims, Times have changed, it is acceptable and encouraged for mothers to work. The way roles are balanced between the parents will help children grow and learn life lessons. There is great importance of communication and equality in families, in order to avoid role strain, the term nuclear family is commonly used, especially in the United States of America, to refer to conjugal families. A conjugal family includes only the husband, the wife, sociologists distinguish between conjugal families and nuclear families. Other family structures, such as blended parents, single parents, a matrifocal family consists of a mother and her children

4.
Sibling
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A sibling is one of two or more individuals having one or both parents in common. A male sibling is a brother, and a sibling is a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings often grow up together, the emotional bond between siblings is often complicated and is influenced by factors such as parental treatment, birth order, personality, and personal experiences outside the family. However, there are cases where siblings grow up in separate homes and it is known that both nature and nurture figure in development, researchers are attempting to ascertain just which one plays the larger role. Identical twins share 100% of their DNA, full siblings are first-degree relatives and, on average, share 50% of their genes out of those that vary among humans. Half-siblings are second-degree relatives and have, on average, a 25% overlap in their genetic variation. Full siblings have the same parents and are 50% related. Identical twins by definition are 100% related, there are two types of twins, identical and fraternal. Identical twins have exactly the same genes, fraternal twins are no more similar than regular siblings, often, twins with a close relationship will develop a twin language from infanthood, a language only shared and understood between the two. Studies suggest that identical twins appear to display more twin talk than fraternal twins, at about 3 years of age, twin talk usually ends. Researchers were interested in subjects who were in the years of life. They knew that past studies suggested that genetics played a role in ones personality in the earlier years of their life. However, they were curious about whether or not this was later on in life. They gathered subjects with an age of 59, who included 99 pairs of identical twins. They also gathered twins who were reared together,160 pairs of identical twins and they studied the most heritable traits in regard to personality, which are emotionality, activity level and sociability, also known as EAS. This study found that identical twins resembled each other twice as much as fraternal twins, furthermore, environment influences personality substantially, however, it has little to do with whether they are reared together or apart. This study also suggests that heritability is substantial, but not as substantial as for younger subjects, half-siblings are people who share one parent but not both. They may share the same mother but different fathers, or they may have the same father and they share only one parent instead of two as full siblings do and are on average 25% related

5.
Cousin
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A cousin is a relative with whom a person shares one or more common ancestors. In the general sense, cousins are two or more away from any common ancestor, thus distinguishing a cousin from an ancestor, descendant, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece. However, in common parlance, cousins typically refers to first cousins as the children of ones uncles, systems of degrees and removals are used in the English-speaking world to describe the exact relationship between two cousins and the ancestor they have in common. The ordinals in the terms first cousins, second cousins, third cousins, the number of G words used to describe this ancestor will determine how close the relationship is. For example, having great-great-grandparents in common would be third cousins, when the cousins are not the same generation, they are described as removed. In this case, the number of generations to the common ancestor is used to determine the degree. Note that the ages of the cousins are irrelevant to the definition of the cousin relationship, the following is a list of less common cousin terms. A cousin chart, or table of consanguinity, is helpful in identifying the degree of relationship between two people using their most recent common ancestor as the reference point. Cousinship between two people can be described in degrees and removals by determining how close, generationally. Another visual chart used in determining the relationship between two people who share a common ancestor is based upon a rhombus shape, usually referred to as a canon law relationship chart. The chart is used by placing the common progenitor in the top space in the diamond-shaped chart, then follow the line down the outside edge of the chart for each of the two people until their respective relationship to the common ancestor is reached. Upon determining that place along the opposing outside edge for each person, the information contained in the common intersection defines the relationship. Then, following the spaces inward, they would intersect in the brother diamond

6.
Marriage
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The definition of marriage varies according to different cultures, but it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual, are acknowledged. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity, when defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural universal. Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal, social, libidinal, emotional, financial, spiritual, whom they marry may be influenced by socially determined rules of incest, prescriptive marriage rules, parental choice and individual desire. In some areas of the world, arranged marriage, child marriage, polygamy, conversely, such practices may be outlawed and penalized in parts of the world out of concerns for womens rights and because of international law. These trends coincide with the human rights movement. Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, an authority, a tribal group. It is often viewed as a contract, Marriages can be performed in a secular civil ceremony or in a religious setting via a wedding ceremony. The act of marriage usually creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved, and any offspring they may produce, some cultures allow the dissolution of marriage through divorce or annulment. In some areas, child marriages and polygamy may occur in spite of laws against the practice. For example, the number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005 and these changes have occurred primarily in Western countries. The word marriage derives from Middle English mariage, which first appears in 1250–1300 CE and this in turn is derived from Old French, marier, and ultimately Latin, marītāre, meaning to provide with a husband or wife and marītāri meaning to get married. The adjective marīt-us -a, -um meaning matrimonial or nuptial could also be used in the form as a noun for husband. Anthropologists have proposed several competing definitions of marriage in an attempt to encompass the wide variety of marital practices observed across cultures, even within Western culture, definitions of marriage have careened from one extreme to another and everywhere in between. The anthropological handbook Notes and Queries defined marriage as a union between a man and a such that children born to the woman are the recognized legitimate offspring of both partners. In recognition of a practice by the Nuer people of Sudan allowing women to act as a husband in certain circumstances, Kathleen Gough suggested modifying this to a woman, none of these men had legal rights to the womans child. Economic anthropologist Duran Bell has criticized the definition on the basis that some societies do not require marriage for legitimacy. He argued that a definition of marriage is circular in societies where illegitimacy has no other legal or social implications for a child other than the mother being unmarried. In 1955 article in Man, Leach argued that no one definition of marriage applied to all cultures and he offered a list of ten rights associated with marriage, including sexual monopoly and rights with respect to children, with specific rights differing across cultures

7.
Husband
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A husband is a male in a marital relationship. The rights and obligations of a husband regarding his spouse, others, in monogamous cultures, there may be only two parties to a marriage. This is enforced by legal codes which outlaw bigamy, in polygamous cultures, there may be more than two parties to a marriage. On the death of his spouse, a husband is referred to as a widower and after a divorce a man may be referred to as ex-husband of his former spouse. In todays society a husband is not necessarily considered the breadwinner of the family, especially if his spouse has a more financially rewarding occupation or career, in such cases, it is not uncommon for a husband to be considered a stay-at-home father if the married couple have children. The term husband refers to Middle English huseband, from Old English hūsbōnda, at the conclusion of a valid wedding, the marrying parties acquire the status of married person and, while the marriage persists, a man is called a husband. In heterosexual marriages the woman is called a wife, in same-sex marriages between males, each male is called a husband, between females, each is called a wife, regardless of gender, a married person is the spouse of the other party to the marriage. Although husband is a term to groom, the latter is a male participant in a wedding ceremony, while a husband is a married man after the wedding. In some cases of marriage, before the marriage, he or his family may have received a dowry, or have had to pay a bride price. For the time of the marriage, they were made inalienable by the husband and he might leave his wife, then widow, a dower to support her as dowager. Husband further refers to the form in relation to the spouse and offspring, unlike father. As an external symbol of the fact that they are married, in the Middle Ages and Early Modern European history, it was unusual to marry out of love, but then doing so became an influential ideal. During this period, a husband had more opportunities in society than his wife, in contemporary secularized Western culture, the rights of the spouses have been made equal. The civil marriage generally forces the wealthier spouse breadwinner to provide alimony to the spouse, even after separation. In Islamic marital jurisprudence, husbands are considered protectors of the household, as in most cases in Islam law and culture, everything is being related to the Quran. Many Muslims may agree on an equal relationship. Islam is the major religion that puts a cap on polygamy. Although some religions, such as Catholicism for instance, puts a cap on all together, or even serial monogamy, allowing one spouse until death does them apart

8.
Wife
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A wife is a female partner in a continuing marital relationship. A wife may also be referred to as a spouse, which is a gender-neutral term, on the death of her partner, a wife is referred to as a widow, but not after she is divorced from her partner. The rights and obligations of a wife in relation to her partner and her status in the community, the word is of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *wībam, woman. In Middle English it had the form wif, and in Old English wīf, in many cultures, with marriage it is generally expected that a woman will take her husbands surname, though that is not universal. A married woman is given the honorific title Mrs, but some married women prefer to be referred to as Ms. A woman on her day is usually described as a bride, even after the wedding ceremony. Historically, if her partner was male he was known as the bridegroom during the wedding, if her partner is female she may also be described as a bride during and after the ceremony and as a wife within the marriage. Wife refers to the relation to the other spouse, unlike mother. However, a woman in a common law marriage may describe herself as a common law wife, de facto wife. Those seeking to advance gender neutrality may refer to marriage partners as spouses, and many countries and societies are rewording their statute law by replacing wife. A former wife whose spouse is deceased is a widow, the status of a wife may be terminated by divorce, annulment, or death of the other spouse. In the case of divorce, terminology such as former-wife or ex-wife is often used, in the case of the death of the other spouse, the term used is widow. The legal rights of a wife have been since the 19th century and this subject was in particular addressed by John Stuart Mill, in The Subjection of Women. Historically, many societies have given sets of rights and obligations to husbands that have very different from the sets of rights. In particular, the control of property, inheritance rights. However, this practice was curtailed to a deal in many countries in the twentieth century. Among the last European countries to establish gender equality in marriage were Switzerland, Greece, Spain. The purpose of the dowry varies by culture and has varied historically, in some cultures, particularly in the Anglophone West, wives often change their surnames to that of the husband upon getting married

9.
Polyandry
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Polyandry involves marriage that includes more than two partners and can fall under the broader category of polyamory. More specifically, it is a form of polygamy, where a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time, Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a number of husbands and wives participants of each gender, then it can be called polyamory. In its broadest use, polyandry refers to relations with multiple males within or without marriage. Of the 1,231 societies listed in the 1980 Ethnographic Atlas,186 were found to be monogamous,453 had occasional polygyny,588 had more frequent polygyny, Polyandry is less rare than this figure which listed only those examples found in the Himalayan mountains. More recent studies have more than 50 other societies practicing polyandry. It is associated with partible paternity, the belief that a child can have more than one father. Polyandry is believed to be likely in societies with scarce environmental resources. It is believed to limit population growth and enhance child survival. It is a form of marriage that exists not only among peasant families. For example, polyandry in the Himalayan mountains is related to the scarcity of land, the marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife allows family land to remain intact and undivided. If every brother married separately and had children, family land would be split into small plots. In contrast, very poor persons not owning land were likely to practice polyandry in Buddhist Ladakh. In Europe, the splitting up of land was prevented through the practice of impartible inheritance. For example, disinheriting most siblings where many of whom then became celibate monks, polyandrous mating systems are also a common phenomenon in the animal kingdom. In the Indian Himalayas, polyandry may be combined with polygyny to produce a system termed polygynandry, the system results in less land fragmentation, a diversification of domestic economic activities, and lower population growth. Fraternal polyandry, also called adelphic polyandry, is a form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more men who are one anothers brothers. Fraternal polyandry was found in areas of Tibet, Nepal, and Northern India

10.
Polygamy
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Polygamy involves marriage with more than one spouse. When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, when a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry. If a marriage includes multiple husbands and wives, it can be called a group marriage, in contrast, monogamy is marriage consisting of only two parties. Like monogamy, the term polygamy is often used in a de facto sense, in sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating. Polygamy is widely accepted among different societies worldwide, according to the Ethnographic Atlas, of 1,231 societies noted,588 had frequent polygyny,453 had occasional polygyny,186 were monogamous and 4 had polyandry. Polygamy is also common among animals, such as the common fruit-fly. Polygyny is the practice wherein a man has more than one wife at the same time, the vast majority of polygamous marriages are polygynous. Polygyny is legally accepted in many Muslim majority countries and some countries with a sizeable Muslim minority, in some of the sparsely populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place in Africa, women do much of the work. This favours polygamous marriages in which men sought to monopolize the production of women who are valued both as workers and as child bearers, goody however, observes that the correlation is imperfect and varied. Senior wives can benefit as well when their work load is lightened by the addition of junior wives to the family. Wives, especially wives, status in the community can be increased by the addition of other wives. For such reasons, senior wives sometimes work hard or contribute from their own resources to enable their husbands to accumulate the bride price for a second wife, Polygyny may also result from the practice of levirate marriage. In such cases, the deceased mans heir may inherit his assets and wife, or, more usually and this provides support for the widow and her children and maintains the tie between the husband and wives kin groups. The sororate is like the levirate, in that a widower must marry the sister of his dead wife, the wifes family, in other words, must provide a replacement for her thus maintaining the ties between them. Both levirate and sororate may result in a man having multiple wives and this is a form of de facto polygyny that is referred to as concubinage. In many polygynous marriages the husbands wives may live in separate households often at a great distance and they can thus be described as a series of linked nuclear families with a father in common. Polyandry is the practice wherein a woman has more than one husband at the same time, polyandry is much less popular than polygyny and is illegal in virtually every state in the world. It occurs only in remote communities, polyandry is believed to be more likely in societies with scarce environmental resources, as it is believed to limit human population growth and enhance child survival

11.
Polygyny
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Polygyny is the most common and accepted form of polygamy, entailing the marriage of a man with several women. Most countries that permit polygamy are Muslim-majority countries in which polygyny is the only form permitted, polyandry is illegal in virtually every state of the world. In some countries where polygamy is illegal, and sometimes even when legal, at times it is known for men to have one or more mistresses, whom they do not marry. The status of a mistress is not that of a wife, throughout the polygyny belt stretching from Senegal in the west to Tanzania in the east, as many as a third to a half of married women are in polygynous unions. Historically, polygyny was partly accepted in ancient Hebrew society, in classical China, in India it was known to have been practiced during ancient times. It was accepted in ancient Greece, until the Roman Empire, Boserup was the first to propose that the high incidence of polygyny in sub-Saharan Africa is rooted in the sexual division of labor in hoe-farming and the large economic contribution of women. In the regions of shifting cultivation where polygyny is most frequently recorded, the task of felling trees in preparation of new plots is usually done by older boys and very young men. An elderly cultivator, with wives and likely several young male children. By the combined efforts of his sons and young wives, he may gradually expand his cultivation. A man with a wife has less help in cultivation and is likely to have little or no help for felling trees. According to Boserups historical data, women living in such a structure also welcome one or more co-wives to share them the burden of daily labor. However, the wife will usually do the most tiresome work, almost as if she were a servant to the first wife. Polygyny is considered an advantage in many rural areas. In some cases, the role of the additional wife enables the husband to enjoy more leisure. Drawing on the work of Ester Boserup, Goody notes that in some of the populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place in Africa. This favoured polygamous marriages in which men sought to monopolize the production of women who are valued both as workers and as child bearers, Goody, however, observes that the correlation is imperfect. Most research into the determinants of polygyny has focused on macro-level factors, widespread polygyny is linked to the kinship groups that share descent from a common ancestor. Scholars have argued that in farming systems where men do most of the agriculture work, in order to feed an additional wife, the husband must either work harder himself or he must hire laborers to do part of the work

12.
Mixed-orientation marriage
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A mixed-orientation marriage is a marriage between partners of differing sexual orientations. The broader term is mixed-orientation relationship and both terms are shortened to MOM and MOR respectively. The people involved in such a marriage may not be romantically or sexually compatible, the term also applies when one of the partners involved is asexual and/or aromantic, leading to a mixed desire for sexual activity and/or romantic activity. The marriage of an asexual to a sexual is one in which the partner either does not experience sexual desire or attraction. These marriages are based on romantic love, however they experience challenges around sexual relations. Sex simply does not occur to the asexual and, for this reason, there are unresolved questions surrounding such marriages, such as whether the asexual partner has the right to demand the sexual partner be monogamous. Approximately one third of all mixed-orientation couples stay married, open communication both within and without the marriage are cited as factors which support marriage, as well as the presence of children. Bisexual-heterosexual marriages face external misunderstandings regarding the bisexual spouses sexual orientation as gay or straight. Successful bisexual-heterosexual marriages expanded their concept of orientation to encompass dual attraction. A study on the nature of marriages was conducted in 2002 at Deakin University. This study was conducted on 26 men, of these 26 men, 50% thought they were gay before their mixed-orientation marriage and 85% identified as gay after their mixed-orientation marriage. An interesting finding of this study is that, the two most common reasons cited were that it seemed natural, and that they wanted children and family life. This finding is contrasted with an earlier study, These reasons seem different from the most frequent ones found by Ross which focused on social expectancy. Joe Kort, a counselor specializing in mixed-orientation marriages, said These men genuinely love their wives. They fall in love with their wives, they have children, theyre on a chemical, romantic high, and then after about seven years, while many hide their orientation from their spouse, others tell their spouse before marriage. Research indicates that people identify as exclusively heterosexual in behavior and fantasies before marriage. One study states that women in mixed-orientation marriages may be attracted to homosexual men. Kort said that straight individuals rarely marry gay people accidentally and he theorized that some heterosexual women find homosexual men less judgmental and more flexible, while others unconsciously seek partnerships that are not sexually passionate

13.
Boyfriend
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A boyfriend is a male friend or acquaintance, often specifying a regular male companion with whom one is platonic, romantically or sexually involved. This is normally a short-term committed relationship, where titles are more commonly used for long-term committed relationships. A boyfriend can also be called an admirer, beau, suitor, partners in committed non-marital relationships are also sometimes described as a significant other or partner, especially if the individuals are cohabiting. Boyfriend and partner mean different things to different people, the distinctions between the terms are subjective, how the term is used will ultimately be determined by personal preference. There is a significant difference between girlfriend and boyfriend, and girl friend and boy friend, in a strictly grammatical sense, a girlfriend or boyfriend is an individual of significance with whom one shares a relationship. The word dating entered the American language during the Roaring Twenties, prior to that, courtship was a matter of family and community interest. Starting around the time of the American Civil War, courtship became a matter for couples. In the early to mid 20th century in the US, women were visited by gentleman callers. The era of the gentleman caller ended in the early 20th century, in literature, the term is discussed in July 1988 in Neil Bartletts, Who Was That Man. A Present for Mr Oscar Wilde, on pages 108-110, Bartlett quotes from an issue of The Artist and Journal of Home Culture, which refers to Alectryon as a boyfriend of Mars. An older man may be referred to as a sugar daddy, in popular culture, slang, internet chat, and cellphone texting, the truncated acronym bf is also used. The term young man was at some periods used with a similar connotation

14.
Girlfriend
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Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. Friendship is a form of interpersonal bond than an association. Friendship has been studied in fields such as communication, sociology, social psychology, anthropology. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, a World Happiness Database study found that people with close friendships are happier. Although there are forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place. While there is no limit on what types of people can form a friendship, friends tend to share common backgrounds, occupations. In the typical sequence of an individuals emotional development, friendships come after parental bonding, the absence of friends can be emotionally damaging. The evolutionary psychology approach to development has led to the theory of Dunbars number. He theorized that there is a limit of approximately 150 people with whom a human can maintain stable social relationships, in childhood, friendships are often based on the sharing of toys, and the enjoyment received from performing activities together. These friendships are maintained through affection, sharing, and creative playtime and they begin to see their friends points of view, and enjoy playing in groups. They also experience peer rejection as they move through the middle childhood years, establishing good friendships at a young age helps a child to be better acclimated in society later on in their life. In a 1975 study, Bigelow and La Gaipa found that expectations for a best friend become increasingly complex as a child gets older, the study investigated such criteria in a sample of 480 children between the ages of six and fourteen. Their findings highlighted three stages of development in friendship expectations, in the first stage, children emphasized shared activities and the importance of geographical closeness. In the second, they emphasized sharing, loyalty, and commitment, in the final stage, they increasingly desired similar attitudes, values, and interests. High-quality friendships have often assumed to have positive effects on many aspects of childrens social development. Perceived benefits from such friendships include enhanced social success, but they apparently do not include an effect on childrens general self-esteem, numerous studies with adults suggest that friendships and other supportive relationships do enhance self-esteem. Other potential benefits of friendship include the opportunity to learn about empathy, coaching from parents can be useful in helping children to make friends. Eileen Kennedy-Moore describes three key ingredients of childrens friendship formation, openness, similarity, and shared fun, parents can also help children understand social guidelines they havent learned on their own

15.
Cohabitation
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Cohabitation is an arrangement where two people who are not married live together. Such arrangements have become common in Western countries during the past few decades, being led by changing social views, especially regarding marriage, gender roles. They often involve a romantic relationship and/or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis, more broadly, the term cohabitation can mean any number of people living together. To cohabit, in a sense, means to coexist. The origin of the term comes from the mid 16th century, from the Latin cohabitare, today, cohabitation is a common pattern among people in the Western world. In Europe, the Scandinavian countries have been the first to start this leading trend, mediterranean Europe has traditionally been very conservative, with religion playing a strong role. Until the mid-1990s, cohabitation levels remained low in this region, during the past decades, in Western countries, there has been an increase in unmarried couples cohabiting. Historically, many Western countries have been influenced by Christian doctrines on sex, as social mores have changed, such beliefs have become less widely held by the population and some Christian denominations today view cohabitation as a precursor to marriage. Pope Francis has married a couple who had children, while former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. All these changes favored living arrangement alternatives to marriage, in Central and Eastern Europe, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were major political changes, such as the fall of Communist governments. These societies entered a new era of increased social freedom, less rigid rules and they interacted with Western Europe and some became members of the European Union. As a result, the patterns of life have started to change, marriage rates have declined. Cohabitation and births to unmarried mothers increased, and in countries the increase was very quick. The deinstitutionalization of marriage refers to the weakening of the social and legal norms that regulate behavior in regard to marriage. The rise in cohabitation is part of major social changes such as, higher divorce rate, older age at first marriage and childbearing. There have been objections against the legal and social regulation of female sexuality, in addition, some individuals may feel that marriage is unnecessary or outdated, leading to couples not formalizing their relation. The fact that many choose to live together without formalizing their relation is also recognized by the European Union. A2004 directive forbids EU members from denying entry or residence of partners with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, a reason for the more permissive and less traditional views on cohabiting would be a low sex ratio

16.
Friendship
–
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. Friendship is a form of interpersonal bond than an association. Friendship has been studied in fields such as communication, sociology, social psychology, anthropology. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, a World Happiness Database study found that people with close friendships are happier. Although there are forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place. While there is no limit on what types of people can form a friendship, friends tend to share common backgrounds, occupations. In the typical sequence of an individuals emotional development, friendships come after parental bonding, the absence of friends can be emotionally damaging. The evolutionary psychology approach to development has led to the theory of Dunbars number. He theorized that there is a limit of approximately 150 people with whom a human can maintain stable social relationships, in childhood, friendships are often based on the sharing of toys, and the enjoyment received from performing activities together. These friendships are maintained through affection, sharing, and creative playtime and they begin to see their friends points of view, and enjoy playing in groups. They also experience peer rejection as they move through the middle childhood years, establishing good friendships at a young age helps a child to be better acclimated in society later on in their life. In a 1975 study, Bigelow and La Gaipa found that expectations for a best friend become increasingly complex as a child gets older, the study investigated such criteria in a sample of 480 children between the ages of six and fourteen. Their findings highlighted three stages of development in friendship expectations, in the first stage, children emphasized shared activities and the importance of geographical closeness. In the second, they emphasized sharing, loyalty, and commitment, in the final stage, they increasingly desired similar attitudes, values, and interests. High-quality friendships have often assumed to have positive effects on many aspects of childrens social development. Perceived benefits from such friendships include enhanced social success, but they apparently do not include an effect on childrens general self-esteem, numerous studies with adults suggest that friendships and other supportive relationships do enhance self-esteem. Other potential benefits of friendship include the opportunity to learn about empathy, coaching from parents can be useful in helping children to make friends. Eileen Kennedy-Moore describes three key ingredients of childrens friendship formation, openness, similarity, and shared fun, parents can also help children understand social guidelines they havent learned on their own

17.
Romantic friendship
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It may include for example holding hands, cuddling, hugging, kissing, giving massages, and sharing a bed, or co-sleeping, without sexual intercourse or other physical sexual expression. In historical scholarship, the term may be used to describe a close relationship between people of the same sex during a period of history when homosexuality did not exist as a social category. The content of Shakespeares works has raised the question of whether he may have been bisexual, although twenty-six of Shakespeares sonnets are love poems addressed to a married woman, one hundred and twenty-six are addressed to an adolescent boy. The French philosopher Montaigne described the concept of friendship in his essay On Friendship. Lincoln and Speed lived together, shared a bed in their youth, such distancing is still practiced today. Proponents of the romantic friendship hypothesis also make reference to the Bible, boswells own interpretation has been thoroughly critiqued, notably by Brent D. Several small groups of advocates and researchers have advocated for the use of the term, or the related term Boston marriage

18.
Monogamy
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Monogamy is a form of relationship in which an individual has only one partner during his or her lifetime or at any one time, as compared to polygyny, polyandry, or polyamory. The term is applied to the social behavior of some animals. It is important to have an understanding of the nomenclature of monogamy because scientists use the term monogamy for different relationships. Biologists, biological anthropologists, and behavioral ecologists often use the term monogamy in the sense of sexual, if not genetic, modern biological researchers, using the theory of evolution, approach human monogamy as the same in human and non-human animal species. They postulate the following four aspects of monogamy, Marital monogamy refers to marriages of two people. Social monogamy refers to two living together, having sex with each other, and cooperating in acquiring basic resources such as shelter, food. Sexual monogamy refers to two partners remaining sexually exclusive with other and having no outside sex partners. Genetic monogamy refers to sexually monogamous relationships with genetic evidence of paternity, when cultural or social anthropologists and other social scientists use the term monogamy, the meaning is social or marital monogamy. There are also philosophical aspects in the field of interest of e. g. philosophical anthropology and philosophy of religion, the word monogamy comes from the Greek μονός, monos which means alone, and γάμος, gamos which means marriage. According to the Ethnographic Atlas, of 1,231 societies from around the noted,186 were monogamous,453 had occasional polygyny,588 had more frequent polygyny. Many societies that we consider monogamous in fact allow easy divorce, in many western countries divorce rates approach 50%. Those who remarry do so on average 3 times, divorce and remarriage can thus result in serial monogamy, i. e. multiple marriages but only one legal spouse at a time. In all, these account for 16 to 24% of the monogamous category, the prevalence of sexual monogamy can be roughly estimated as the percentage of married people who do not engage in extramarital sex. The Standard Cross-Cultural Sample describes the amount of sex by men and women in over 50 pre-industrial cultures. The amount of sex by men is described as universal in 6 cultures, moderate in 29 cultures, occasional in 6 cultures. The amount of sex by women is described as universal in 6 cultures, moderate in 23 cultures, occasional in 9 cultures. These findings support the claim that the amount of extramarital sex differs across cultures. Recent surveys conducted in non-Western nations have found cultural and gender differences in extramarital sex

19.
Non-monogamy
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Non-monogamy is a type of interpersonal relationship in which sexual exclusivity is not held as the primary fundamental premise of the relationship. Individuals may form multiple and simultaneous sexual or romantic bonds and this can be contrasted with its opposite, monogamy, and yet may arise from the same psychology. The term has been criticized as it may imply that monogamy is the norm, many non-monogamous terms are flexible in definition, because they are based on criteria such as relationship or love that are themselves variably defined. In addition, usage creates distinctions beyond the raw definitions of the words

20.
Polyamory
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Polyamory is typically the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships where individuals may have more than one partner, with the knowledge and consent of all partners. It has been described as consensual, ethical, and responsible non-monogamy, however, the meaning of polyamory is also an issue of ongoing debate. For example, although polyamory is typically defined as a practice or approach to relationships. As of July 2009, it was estimated more than 500,000 polyamorous relationships existed in the United States. People who identify as polyamorous typically reject the view that sexual and relational exclusivity are necessary for deep, committed and those who are open to, or emotionally suited for, polyamory may embark on a polyamorous relationship when single or already in a monogamous or open relationship. The word polyamorous came to prominence in an article by Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, A Bouquet of Lovers, published in May 1990 in Green Egg Magazine, where it appeared as poly-amorous. In May 1992, Jennifer L. Wesp created the Usenet newsgroup alt. polyamory, the words polyamory, -ous, and -ist were added to the OED in 2006. Polyamory is a specific term than polygamy, the practice or condition of having more than one spouse. No single definition of polyamory has universal acceptance, although many individuals would define polyamory as a relationship practice or form, some believe that it should be classified an orientation or identity. Most definitions of polyamory center on the concepts provided by Ravenhearts definition, areas of difference arise regarding the degree of commitment, such as in the practice of casual sexual activities, and whether it represents a viewpoint or a relational status quo. The practices of engaging in closed polyamorous relationships is sometimes called polyfidelity, the terms primary and secondary may be used to indicate a hierarchy of different relationships or the place of each relationship in a persons life. Thus, a person may refer to a partner as their primary partner. While such labels can be used as a tool to manage multiple relationships, some believe such a hierarchy is unfair, as all the involved partners deserve equal standing. Another model, sometimes referred to as a network, includes relationships that are of varying significance to the people involved. Within this model, a hierarchy may be fluid and vague, if non-monogamous relationships practice, ethics, honesty, transparency and mutual respect then they can also be considered polyamorous. Forms of non-monogamy and therefore potentially polyamory include, Polyfidelity, which involves multiple romantic relationships with sexual contact restricted to specific partners in the group. Solo Polyamory, in which one person, usually living alone, communicates ethically, to the people they date. Hierarchical Polyamory, which distinguish between primary and secondary relationships, in 1906 H. G. Wells presented a defense of this sort of polyamory in a utopian novel titled In the Days of the Comet

21.
Cicisbeo
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The arrangement is comparable to the Spanish cortejo or estrecho and, to a lesser degree, to the French petit-maître. The exact etymology of the word is unknown, some evidence suggests it originally meant in a whisper, other accounts suggest it is an inversion of bel cece, which means beautiful chick. According to OED, the first recorded usage of the term in English was found in a letter by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu dated 1718, the term appears in Italian in Giovanni Maria Mutis Quaresimale Del Padre Maestro Fra Giovanni Maria Muti De Predicatori of 1708. While many contemporary references to cicisbei and descriptions of their social standing exist, some maintain that this institution was defined by marriage contracts, others question this claim and see it as a peculiarity of 18th-century customs that is not well defined or easily explained. Other scholars see it as a sign of the emancipation of aristocratic women in the 18th century. The cicisbeo was better tolerated if he was known to be homosexual, to the rest of you, so full of yourselves, one cant say a word that you dont take as provocation. Typically, husbands tolerated or even welcomed the arrangement, Lord Byron, after his death, her second husband, Marquis de Boissy, was known to brag about the fact. Byron also famously analyzed the institution from an English point of view in his poem Beppo, the husband and the cicisbeo live together as sworn brothers, and the wife and the mistress embrace each other with marks of the warmest affection. Cicisbei played by set rules, generally avoiding public displays of affection, at public entertainments, they would typically stand behind their seated mistress and whisper in her ear. Customs of the time did not permit them to engage in relationships with any other women during their free time, both parties could decide to end the relationship at any time. A womans former cicisbei were called spiantati, or cast-offs, the topic can be found in the contemporary poem Il Giorno by Giuseppe Parini. A Ladys Man, The Cicisbei, Private Morals and National Identity in Italy, houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire Palgrave Macmillan,2014. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 193 John Forsyth, Remarks on the Antiquities, Arts, barbara Hodgson, Italy Out of Hand, A Capricious Tour, Chronicle Books LLC,2005 J. G. Krünitz, Oekonomische Encyklopädie oder allgemeines System der Staats- Stadt- Haus- und Landwirthschaft, retrieved on March 27,2006 Silvana Patriarca, Indolence and Regeneration, Tropes and Tensions of Risorgimento Patriotism. The American Historical Review April 2005, jean Charles Léonard Simonde de Sismondi, Histoire des Républiques Italiennes du Moyen Age, 5th edn. vol.8 Tobias Smollett, Travels through France and Italy, numerous editions

22.
Concubinage
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The woman in such a relationship is referred to as a concubine. The prevalence of concubinage and the status of rights and expectations of a concubine have varied between cultures as well as the rights of children of a concubine. Whatever the status and rights of the concubine, they were inferior to those of the wife. Historically, concubinage was frequently entered into voluntarily as it provided a measure of security for the woman involved. Involuntary or servile concubinage sometimes involved sexual slavery of one member of the relationship, nevertheless, sexual relations outside marriage were not uncommon, especially among royalty and nobility, and the woman in such relationships was commonly described as a mistress. However, the children of such relationships were counted as illegitimate and were barred from inheriting the title or estates. While various forms of sexual relationships and co-habitation short of marriage have become increasingly common in the Western world. The terms concubinage and concubine are used primarily when referring to non-marital partnerships of earlier eras. In modern usage, a domestic relationship is commonly referred to as co-habitation. Concubinage was highly popular before early 20th century all over Asia, the main function of concubinage was producing additional heirs, as well as bring males pleasure. Children of concubines had lower rights in account to inheritance, which was regulated by Dishu system, after that, even concubinage has been legally banned, the relationship between mistresses and their men are highly affected by it. In China, successful men often had concubines until the practice was outlawed after the Communist Party of China came to power in 1949, the standard Chinese term translated as concubine was qiè 妾, a term used since ancient times, which means female slave. Concubines resembled wives in that they were recognized sexual partners of a family member and were expected to bear children from him. Unofficial concubines, are of lower status, and children of her are considered illegitimate, in English the term concubine is also used for what the Chinese refer to as pínfēi consorts of emperors, some of very high rank. In premodern China, it was illegal and socially disreputable for a man to have more than one wife at a time, but he could have concubines. At first a man could have as many concubines as he could afford, however, from the Eastern Han onward, the higher ranking and the more noble an identity a man possessed, the more concubines he was permitted to have. A concubines treatment and situation were highly variable and were influenced by the status of the male to whom she was engaged. In the Book of Rites chapter on “The Pattern of the Family” it says, “If there were betrothal rites, she became a wife, and if she went without these, Concubines could be taken without any of the ceremonies used in marriages

23.
Courtesan
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A courtesan was originally a courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person. In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, prior to the Renaissance, courtesans served to convey information to visiting dignitaries, when servants could not be trusted. In Renaissance Europe, courtiers played an important role in upper-class society. In fact, the verb to court originally meant to be or reside at court, the most intimate companion of a ruler was called the favourite. The word was borrowed by English from Italian through the French form courtisane during the 16th century, a male figure comparable to the courtesan was the Italian cicisbeo, the French chevalier servant, the Spanish cortejo or estrecho. It actually seems that the figure of the servant of a married lady was quite common in Europe up to the 18th century. The courtesans of East Asia, particularly those of the Japanese empire, examples of Japanese courtesans included the Oiran class, who were more focused on the aspect of entertainment in comparison with European courtesans. There were two types of courtesan, in one category was a type of courtesan known as the cortigiana onesta, or the honest courtesan, who was cast as an intellectual. In the other was the cortigiana di lume, a class of courtesan. Although the latter was considered better than an average courtesan. It is with type of courtesan that the art of courtisanerie is best associated. The cortigiane oneste were usually well-educated and worldly, and often held simultaneous careers as performers or artists and they were typically chosen on the basis of their breeding—social and conversational skills, intelligence, common-sense, and companionship—as well as their physical attributes. It was usually their wit and personality that set apart from regular women. Sex constituted only a facet of the array of services. For example, they were well-dressed and ready to engage and participate in a variety of topics ranging from art to music to politics, in some cases, courtesans were from well-to-do backgrounds, and were even married—but to husbands lower on the social ladder than their clients. In cases like this, a courtesan was solely dependent on her benefactor or benefactors financially, making her vulnerable, Cora Pearl is a good example. In the event that the courtesan had angered or dissatisfied a benefactor, they would find themselves cast out of wealthy circles. In instances like this, it was often viewed simply as an agreement by both parties involved

24.
Mistress (lover)
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A mistress is a relatively long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner, especially when her partner is married. Generally, the relationship is stable and at least semi-permanent, but the couple does not live together openly and the relationship is usually, but not always, secret. There is often also the implication that the mistress is kept – i. e. that her lover is paying for some of her living expenses, the term mistress was originally used as a neutral feminine counterpart to mister or master. Historically the term has denoted a kept woman, who was maintained in a lifestyle by a wealthy man so that she would be available for his sexual pleasure. Such a woman could move between the roles of a mistress and a courtesan depending on her situation and environment, historically, a man kept a mistress. As the term implies, he was responsible for her debts and provided for her in much the way as he did his wife. In more recent times, it is likely that the mistress has a job of her own. There is usually an emotional and possibly social relationship between a man and his mistress, whereas the relationship to a prostitute is predominantly sexual. The keeping of a mistress in Europe was not confined to royalty and nobility, any man who could afford a mistress could have one, regardless of social position. A wealthy merchant or a noble might have a kept woman. Being a mistress was typically an occupation for a woman who, if she were fortunate. The ballad The Three Ravens extolls the loyal mistress of a slain knight and it is noteworthy that the ballad-maker assigned this role to the knights mistress rather than to his wife. In the courts of Europe, particularly Versailles and Whitehall in the 17th and 18th centuries, a king might have numerous mistresses, but have a single favourite mistress or official mistress, as with Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. The mistresses of both Louis XV and Charles II were often considered to exert influence over their lovers. Other than wealthy merchants and kings, Alexander VI is but one example of a Pope who kept mistresses, while the extremely wealthy might keep a mistress for life, such was not the case for most kept women. Occasionally the mistress is in a position both financially and socially to her lover. In literature, D. H. Lawrences work Lady Chatterleys Lover portrays a situation where a woman becomes the mistress of her husbands gamekeeper, until recently, a womans taking a socially inferior lover was considered much more shocking than the reverse situation. As divorce became more acceptable, it was easier for men to divorce their wives and marry the women who, in earlier years

25.
Human bonding
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Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups, such as sporting teams, Bonding is a mutual, interactive process, and is different from simple liking. Bonding typically refers to the process of attachment that develops between romantic partners, close friends, or parents and children and this bond is characterized by emotions such as affection and trust. Any two people who spend time together may form a bond, male bonding refers to the establishment of relationships between men through shared activities that often exclude females. The term female bonding refers to the formation of personal relationships between women. In the 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher Plato argued that love directs the bonds of human society, in his Symposium, Eryximachus, one of the narrators in the dialog, states that love goes far beyond simple attraction to human beauty. He states that it occurs throughout the animal and plant kingdoms, Love directs everything that occurs, in the realm of the gods as well as that of humans. Eryximachus reasons that when various opposing elements such as wet and dry are animated by the species of Love. But when the sort of Love that is crude and impulsive controls the seasons, he brings death, Plato concludes that the highest form of love is the greatest. That is, according to Spinoza, when a man is prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, humans in passionate relationships, according to Goethe, are analogous to reactive substances in a chemical equation. The term pair bond originated in 1940 in reference to mated pairs of birds, whilst some form of monogamy may characterize around 90% of bird species, in mammals long-term pairing is rare, at around 3%. The incidence of monogamy in primate species is low in contrast with polygyny. Similarly, whilst the naturalness of monogamy in humans is debated, limerent–Nonlimerent bond, define relationships in which one partner is limerent. Limerent–Limerent bond, define relationships in both partners are limerent. The constitution of these bonds may vary over the course of the relationship, in 1958, British developmental psychologist John Bowlby published the paper the Nature of the Childs Tie to his Mother, in which the precursory concepts of attachment theory were developed. Attachment theory has some of its origins in the observation of and experiments with animals, much of the early research on attachment in humans was done by John Bowlby and his associates. Bowlby proposed that babies have an inbuilt need from birth to make emotional attachments, i. e. bonds, Bowlby did not describe mutuality in attachment. He stated that attachment by mother was an inversion and described only behaviors of the infant

26.
Courtship
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Courtship is the period in a couples relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. During courtship, a couple get to each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement. A courtship may be an informal and private matter between two people or may be an affair, or a formal arrangement with family approval. The average duration of courtship varies considerably throughout the world, furthermore, there is vast individual variation between couples. Courtship may be omitted, as in cases of some arranged marriages where the couple do not meet before the wedding. Regarding duration between proposal and wedding, the UK poll above gave an average of 2 years and 3 months, while the date is fairly casual in most European-influenced cultures, in some traditional societies, courtship is a highly structured activity, with very specific formal rules. In some societies, the parents or community propose potential partners, in Japan, there is a such type of courtship called Omiai, with similar practices called Xiangqin in the Greater China Area. Parents will hire a matchmaker to provide pictures and résumés of potential mates, the matchmaker and parents will often exert pressure on the couple to decide whether they want to marry or not after a few dates. Courtship in the Philippines is one known form of courtship. Unlike what is seen in other societies, it takes a far more subdued. It is complex in that it involves stages, and it is considered normal for courtship to last a year or longer and it is common to see the male showing off by sending love letters and love poems, singing romantic songs and buying gifts for the female. The parents are seen as part of the courtship practice, as their approval is commonly needed before courtship may begin. In more closed societies, courtship is virtually eliminated altogether by the practice of arranged marriages, in the earlier 1800s, young adults were expected to court with the intention of finding a marriage partner, rather than for social reasons. She further states that with courtship, commitment happens before intimacy, in America, in the 1820s, the phrase date was most closely associated with prostitution. However, by the Jazz Age of the 1920s, dating for fun was becoming a cultural expectation and this form of dating, though, was usually more chaste than is seen today, since premarital sex was not considered the norm. The concept of dating was initially seen as frustrating and mocked the moralistic values of traditional courtship. One of the reasons there was this disagreement was that they did not want their children growing up doing what many did during the revolution in the 60’s. The act of dating is seen to be temporary, with such acts seeming as if they are “on one day”

27.
Dating
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It can be a form of courtship consisting of social activities done by the couple. The protocols and practices of dating, and the used to describe it, vary considerably from country to country. While the term has several meanings, the most frequent usage refers to two or more people exploring whether they are romantically or sexually compatible by participating in dates with the other, with the use of modern technology, people can date via telephone or computer or meet in person. This term may refer to two or more people who have already decided they share romantic or sexual feelings toward each other. These people will have dates on a basis, and they may or may not be having sexual relations. This period of courtship is sometimes seen as a precursor to engagement or marriage, some cultures require people to wait until a certain age to begin dating, which has been a source of controversy. Dating as an institution is a recent phenomenon which has mainly emerged in the last few centuries. Humans have been compared to species in terms of sexual behavior. According to Sapolsky, humans are somewhat in the middle of this spectrum, in the sense that humans form pair bonds and these species-particular behavior patterns provide a context for aspects of human reproduction, including dating. However, one particularity of the species is that pair bonds are often formed without necessarily having the intention of reproduction. Thus, the concept of marriage is changing widely in many countries, accordingly, there was little need for a temporary trial period such as dating before a permanent community-recognized union was formed between a man and a woman. The 12th-century book The Art of Courtly Love advised that True love can have no place between husband and wife, according to one view, clandestine meetings between men and women, generally outside of marriage or before marriage, were the precursors to todays dating. From about 1700 a worldwide movement perhaps described as the empowerment of the individual took hold, leading towards greater emancipation of women, men and women became more equal politically, financially, and socially in many nations. Women eventually won the right to vote in many countries and own property and receive treatment by the law. In many societies, individuals could decide—on their own—whether they should marry, whom they should marry, and when they should marry. In the twentieth century, dating was sometimes seen as a precursor to marriage but it could also be considered as an end-in-itself, that is, an informal social activity akin to friendship. Rapidly developing technology played a role, new communication technology such as the telephone, Internet. Cars extended the range of dating as well as enabled back-seat sexual exploration, new types of relationships formed, it was possible for people to live together without marrying and without children

28.
Engagement
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An engagement, betrothal, or fiancer is a promise to wed, and also the period of time between a marriage proposal and a marriage. During this period, a couple is said to be betrothed, intended, affianced, engaged to be married, future brides and grooms may be called the betrothed, a wife-to-be or husband-to-be, fiancée or fiancé, respectively. The duration of the courtship varies vastly, and is dependent on cultural norms or upon the agreement of the parties involved. Long engagements were once common in formal arranged marriages, and it was not uncommon for parents betrothing children to arrange marriages many years before the couple were old enough. Erusin changes the couples interpersonal status, while nissuin brings about the consequences of the change of status. This was later adopted in Ancient Greece as the gamos and engeysis rituals, Betrothal is a formal state of engagement to be married. Since the Middle Ages the two ceremonies have taken place as a ceremony performed in public. The betrothal is now part of the Jewish wedding ceremony. As mentioned above, betrothal in Judaism is separate from engagement, breaking a betrothal requires a formal divorce, for adults, it may be anywhere from several hours to a period of several years. A year and a day are common in neo-pagan groups today, in the case of child marriage, betrothal might last from infancy until the age of marriage. The responsibilities and privileges of betrothal vary, in most cultures, the betrothed couple is expected to spend much time together, learning about each other. In some historical cultures, the betrothal was essentially a trial marriage, almost all cultures are loosening restrictions against physical contact between partners, even in cultures that normally had strong prohibitions against it. The betrothal period was considered to be a preparatory time, in which the groom built a house. A betrothal is considered to be a semi-binding contract, in some common law countries, including England and Wales and many US states, it was once possible for the spurned partner to sue the other for breach of promise or heart-balm. The Rite of Betrothal in the Anglican Communion is found within The Book of Common Prayer, the Anglican Communion, as well as the Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church, has questions & responses for family members in its Rite of Betrothal. In the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Rite of Betrothal is traditionally performed in the narthex of the church, the priest blesses the couple and gives them lit candles to hold. Then, after a litany, and a prayer at which everyone bows, he places the ring on the ring finger of the grooms right hand. The rings are exchanged three times, either by the priest or by the best man, after which the priest says a final prayer

29.
Human mating strategies
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In evolutionary psychology and behavioral ecology, human mating strategies are a set of behaviors used by individuals to attract, select, and retain mates. Mating strategies overlap with reproductive strategies, which encompass a broader set of behaviors involving the timing of reproduction, relative to other animals, human mating strategies are unique in their relationship with cultural variables such as the institution of marriage. Humans may seek out individuals with the intention of forming a long-term intimate relationship, marriage, casual relationship, the human desire for companionship is one of the strongest human drives. It is a feature of human nature, and may be related to the sex drive. Commonalities, however, can be found between humans and nonhuman animals in mating behavior, social gatherings are frequently arranged to enable people looking for a partner to meet. Such occasions may be parties of all types and social dances, sometimes attendance at churches or similar venues would also act as occasions for people to meet. Schools and colleges are also places for people to meet. It is not unknown for couples to form over alcohol or drugs, in order to bond or to express sexual interest, people flirt. According to Kate Fox, a social anthropologist, there are two types of flirting, flirting for fun and flirting with intent. Flirting for fun can take place between friends, co-workers, or total strangers that wish to get to each other. This type of flirting does not intend to lead to sexual intercourse or romantic relationship, flirting with intent plays a role in the mate-selection process. The person flirting will send out signals of sexual availability to another, people date to assess each others suitability as a partner in an intimate relationship or as a spouse. Dating rules may vary across different cultures, and some societies may even replace the process by a courtship instead. In many cultural traditions, a date may be arranged by a third party, in some cultures, a marriage may be arranged by the couples parents or an outside party. Recently, internet dating has become popular, research on human mating strategies is guided by the theory of sexual selection, and in particular, Robert Trivers concept of Parental Investment. In humans, females make a larger parental investment than males, while human males invest heavily in their offspring as well, their minimum parental investment is still lower than that of females. Hence, evolutionary psychologists have predicted a number of sex differences in mating strategies. Gradually in a bid to compete in order to obtain resources from potential men, women have evolved to show extended sexuality

30.
Romance (love)
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Romance is the expressive and pleasurable feeling from an emotional attraction towards another person often associated with sexual attraction. It is eros rather than agape, philia, or storge, historically, the term romance originates with the medieval ideal of chivalry as set out in its chivalric romance literature. Humans have an inclination to form bonds with one another through social interactions. The debate over an exact definition of love may be found in literature as well as in the works of psychologists, philosophers, biochemists and other professionals. The addition of drama to relationships of close, deep and strong love, psychologist Charles Lindholm defined love to be. an intense attraction that involves the idealization of the other, within an erotic context, with expectation of enduring sometime into the future. The word was originally an adverb of the Latin origin Romanicus, the connecting notion is that European medieval vernacular tales were usually about chivalric adventure, not combining the idea of love until late into the seventeenth century. In primitive societies, tension existed between marriage and the erotic, but this was expressed in taboo regarding the menstrual cycle. Anthropologists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss show that there were forms of courtship in ancient as well as contemporary primitive societies. There may not be evidence, however, that members of such societies formed loving relationships distinct from their established customs in a way that would parallel modern romance, before the 18th century, many marriages were not arranged, but rather developed out of more or less spontaneous relationships. After the 18th century, illicit relationships took on an independent role. In bourgeois marriage, illicitness may have become more formidable and likely to cause tension, in Ladies of the Leisure Class, Rutgers University professor Bonnie G. Smith depicts courtship and marriage rituals that may be viewed as oppressive to modern people. She writes When the young women of the Nord married, they did so without illusions of love and they acted within a framework of concern for the reproduction of bloodlines according to financial, professional, and sometimes political interests. Subsequent sexual revolution has lessened the conflicts arising out of liberalism, anthony Giddens, in his book The Transformation of Intimacy, Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Society, states that romantic love introduced the idea of a narrative into an individuals life. He adds that telling a story was one of the meanings of romance, according to Giddens, the rise of romantic love more or less coincided with the emergence of the novel. It was then that romantic love, associated with freedom and therefore the ideals of romantic love, for the discourse of intimacy emotional closeness was much more important than passion. This does not mean by any means that intimacy is to replace romance, on the contrary, intimacy and romance coexist. The 21st century has seen the growth of globalization and people now live in a world of transformations that affect almost every aspect of our lives, one example of the changes experienced in relationships was explored by Giddens regarding homosexual relationships. According to Giddens since homosexuals were not able to marry they were forced to more open

31.
Wedding
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A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes, most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vows by the couple, presentation of a gift, and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure. Special wedding garments are worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers or readings from religious texts or literature are commonly incorporated into the ceremony. Some cultures have adopted the traditional Western custom of the wedding, in which a bride wears a white wedding dress. This tradition was popularized through the marriage of Queen Victoria, some say Victorias choice of a white gown may have simply been a sign of extravagance, but may have also been influenced by the values she held which emphasized sexual purity. Within the modern white wedding tradition, a dress and veil are unusual choices for a womans second or subsequent wedding. The use of a ring has long been part of religious weddings in Europe and America. Historian Vicki Howard points out that the belief in the ancient quality of the practice is most likely a modern invention, double ring ceremonies are also a modern practice, a grooms wedding band not appearing in the United States until the early 20th century. The kittel is worn only under the Chupah, and is removed before the reception, different wedding clothing around the world Music played at Western weddings includes a processional song for walking down the aisle either before or after the marriage service. An example of use is reported in the wedding of Nora Robinson. Selections by George Frideric Handel, perhaps most notably the Air from his Water Music as processional, the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin by Richard Wagner, often used as the processional and commonly known as Here Comes the Bride. Richard Wagner is said to have been anti-Semitic, and as a result, johann Pachelbels Canon in D is an alternative processional. The Wedding March from Felix Mendelssohns incidental music for the Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Nights Dream, the Toccata from Charles-Marie Widors Symphony for Organ No. Segments of the Ode to Joy, the movement of Ludwig van Beethovens Ninth Symphony. Other alternative considerations include various contemporary melodies like Bob Marleys One Love which is performed by a steel drum band. Most religions recognize a union with established ceremonies and rituals. Some religions permit polygamous marriages or same-sex marriages, many Christian faiths emphasize the raising of children as a priority in a marriage

32.
Divorce
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Divorce should not be confused with annulment, which declares the marriage null and void, with legal separation or de jure separation or with de facto separation. Reasons for divorce vary, from sexual incompatibility or lack of independence for one or both spouses to a personality clash, the only countries that do not allow divorce are the Philippines, the Vatican City and the British Crown Dependency of Sark. The Vatican City is a state, which has no procedure for divorce. Countries that have relatively recently legalized divorce are Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, Andorra, Ireland, Chile, grounds for divorce vary widely from country to country. Marriage may be seen as a contract, a status, or a combination of these, where it is seen as a contract, the refusal or inability of one spouse to perform the obligations stipulated in the contract may constitute a ground for divorce for the other spouse. In contrast, in countries, divorce is purely no fault. Many jurisdictions offer both the option of a no fault divorce as well as an at fault divorce and this is the case, for example, in many US states. Though divorce laws vary between jurisdictions, there are two approaches to divorce, fault based and no-fault based. In some jurisdictions one spouse may be forced to pay the fees of another spouse. Laws vary as to the period before a divorce is effective. However, issues of division of property are determined by the law of the jurisdiction in which the property is located. In Europe, divorce laws differ from country to country, reflecting differing legal and cultural traditions, in some countries, particularly in some former communist countries, divorce can be obtained only on one single general ground of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. Yet, what such a breakdown of the marriage is interpreted very differently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Separation constitutes a ground of divorce in some European countries. g. in the laws of Latvia. Divorce laws are not static, they often change reflecting evolving social norms of societies, some countries have completely overhauled their divorce laws, such as Spain in 2005, and Portugal in 2008. A new divorce law also came into force in September 2007 in Belgium, bulgaria also modified its divorce regulations in 2009. e. The negotiations with the participation of an advocate or agreement made before the registrar of Public Registry Office, Austria, instead, is a European country where the divorce law still remains conservative. The liberalization of laws is not without opposition, particularly in the United States

33.
Widow
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A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man in that situation. The state of having lost ones spouse to death is termed widowhood and these terms are not applied to a person after he or she becomes divorced from their former spouse. The term widowhood can be used for sex, at least according to some dictionaries. Occasionally, the word viduity is used, the adjective form for either sex is widowed. When the death of a spouse occurs, it is said that an effect is to arise. This is a phenomenon that refers to the mortality rate after the death of a spouse. It is “strongest during the first three months after a death, when they had a 66-percent increased chance of dying”. Most widows and widowers suffer from this effect during the first 3 months of their spouses death, in societies where the husband is the sole provider, his death can leave his family destitute. The tendency for women generally to outlive men can compound this, in some patriarchal societies, widows may maintain economic independence. A woman would carry on her spouses business and be accorded certain rights, more recently, widows of political figures have been among the first women elected to high office in many countries, such as Corazón Aquino or Isabel Martínez de Perón. In 19th-century Britain, widows had greater opportunity for social mobility than in other societies. Along with the ability to ascend socio-economically, widows—who were presumably celibate—were much more able to challenge conventional sexual behaviour than married women in their society. Many immigrants from these cultures to the United States as recently as the 1970s have loosened this strict standard of dress to only two years of black garments. However, Orthodox Christian immigrants may wear black in the United States to signify their widowhood. In other cultures, however, widowhood is much stricter and unarguably more demeaning to womens rights, often, women are required to remarry within the family of their late husband after a period of mourning. As of 2004, women in United States who were widowed at younger ages are at greatest risk for economic hardship, similarly, married women who are in a financially unstable household are more likely to become widows because of the strong relationship between mortality and wealth. In underdeveloped and developing areas of the world, conditions for widows continue to be more severe. A variable that is deemed important and relative to the effects of widowhood is the gender of the widow

34.
Emotion
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Emotion, generally speaking, is any relatively brief conscious experience characterized by intense mental activity and a high degree of pleasure or displeasure. Scientific discourse has drifted to other meanings and there is no consensus on a definition, Emotion is often intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation. In some theories, cognition is an important aspect of emotion and those acting primarily on the emotions they are feeling may seem as if they are not thinking, but mental processes are still essential, particularly in the interpretation of events. For example, the realization of our believing that we are in a dangerous situation, other theories, however, claim that emotion is separate from and can precede cognition. According to some theories, they are states of feeling that result in physical and psychological changes that influence our behavior, the physiology of emotion is closely linked to arousal of the nervous system with various states and strengths of arousal relating, apparently, to particular emotions. Emotion is also linked to behavioral tendency, extroverted people are more likely to be social and express their emotions, while introverted people are more likely to be more socially withdrawn and conceal their emotions. Emotion is often the force behind motivation, positive or negative. Nor is the emotion an entity that causes these components, Emotions involve different components, such as subjective experience, cognitive processes, expressive behavior, psychophysiological changes, and instrumental behavior. More recently, emotion is said to consist of all the components, the different components of emotion are categorized somewhat differently depending on the academic discipline. In psychology and philosophy, emotion typically includes a subjective, conscious experience characterized primarily by psychophysiological expressions, biological reactions, a similar multicomponential description of emotion is found in sociology. For example, Peggy Thoits described emotions as involving physiological components, cultural or emotional labels, expressive body actions, the numerous theories that attempt to explain the origin, neurobiology, experience, and function of emotions have only fostered more intense research on this topic. Current areas of research in the concept of emotion include the development of materials that stimulate, in addition PET scans and fMRI scans help study the affective processes in the brain. Emotions can be defined as a positive or negative experience that is associated with a pattern of physiological activity. Emotions produce different physiological, behavioral and cognitive changes, the original role of emotions was to motivate adaptive behaviors that in the past would have contributed to the survival of humans. Emotions are responses to significant internal and external events, the word emotion dates back to 1579, when it was adapted from the French word émouvoir, which means to stir up. The term emotion was introduced into academic discussion to replace passion, according to one dictionary, the earliest precursors of the word likely dates back to the very origins of language. The modern word emotion is heterogeneous In some uses of the word, on the other hand, emotion can be used to refer to states that are mild and to states that are not directed at anything. One line of research looks at the meaning of the word emotion in everyday language

35.
Attachment in adults
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Attachment theory, initially studied in the 1960s and 1970s primarily in the context of children and parents, was extended to adult relationships in the late 1980s. They have also explored how attachment impacts relationship outcomes and how attachment functions in relationship dynamics, mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby founded modern attachment theory on studies of children and their caregivers. Children and caregivers remained the focus of attachment theory for many years. Then, in the late 1980s, Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver applied attachment theory to adult relationships, Hazan and Shaver noticed that interactions between adults shared similarities to interactions between children and caregivers. For example, romantic partners desire to be close to one another, adults feel comforted when their attachments are present and anxious or lonely when they are absent. Romantic relationships, for example, serve as a base that help people face the surprises, opportunities. Similarities such as these led Hazan and Shaver to extend attachment theory to adult relationships, of course, relationships between adults differ in many ways from relationships between children and caregivers. The claim is not that these two kinds of relationships are identical, the claim is that the core principles of attachment theory apply to both kinds of relationships. Investigators tend to describe the principles of attachment theory in light of their own theoretical interests. Their descriptions seem quite different on a superficial level, the kinds of individual differences observed in infant–caregiver relationships are similar to the ones observed in various close adult relationships. Romantic love, as conceived, involves the interplay of attachment, caregiving. Experiences in earlier relationships create internal working models and attachment styles that systematically affect attachment relationships, the attachment orientations of adult caregivers influence the attachment bond their children have with them. Working models and attachment orientations are relatively stable over time, some forms of psychological maladjustment and clinical disorders are attributable in part to the effects of insecure working models and attachment styles. While these two lists clearly reflect the interests of the investigators who created them, a closer look reveals a number of shared themes. The shared themes claim that, People are biologically driven to form attachments with others, individuals form different kinds of attachments depending on the expectations and beliefs they have about their relationships. These expectations and beliefs constitute internal working models used to guide relationship behaviors, internal working models are relatively stable even though they can be influenced by experience. Individual differences in attachment can contribute positively or negatively to mental health, no doubt these themes could be described in a variety of ways. Regardless of how one describes the principles of attachment theory

Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an …

Ivory French casket with scenes of romances – possibly a courtship gift. Courtship is the systematic process that one undergoes in order to ensure compatibility with a lifelong partner.Walters Art Museum

Youth conversing with suitors from the Haft Awrang of Jami, in the story A Father Advises his Son About Love.